Elemental Cycle – Pack 4 – Ebb and Flow

Elemental Cycle – Pack 4 – Ebb and Flow

This week we’re looking at Pack 4 – The Ebb and Flow. This pack focuses on the element of Water and introduces the highly anticipated Daimyō of the Mantis clan Yoritomo.

61 Flooded Waste

When looking at provinces we always talk about two key elements, does the province defend itself and does it have a proactive effect on the game. The Crab province Flooded Waste is a card that does both. Bowing all the attacking characters gives you two options, defend with a token force to win the ring, or defend with no one to be able to declare the ring on attack yourself. Not defending does have an element of risk as if your opponent has any movement or straighten effects they can use those to get the skill needed to break the province. It is important to remember that the Imperial Favor counts as long as you have a character in play, so if the attacker has the Favor they will still have 1 skill for the conflict. With a province strength of only 2, it won’t take much for your opponent to take the province, but they will need to play cards to do so.

In the province row this functions in a similar way to Public Forum or Rally to the Cause stalling the conflict. In a game where taking provinces is on the clock, this can be a big deal. In the final province, it is a more reliable Rally to the Cause, stalling the initial attack and forcing the attacker to initially feint rather than all-out commit. I’m expecting this to replace Rally to the Cause as the stronghold province for Crab as it can more reliably stall that initial conflict. It will make that final assault untenable without first dealing with the reaction. It also makes an interesting case for Crab as Seeker of Water.


62 Seeking the Truth

This packs entry into the elemental province for this cycle follows a similar theme. In this instance, when the province is broken you can send a defending character home. As provinces break before characters bow, this will leave your character unbowed. In theory, the goal of this province is to allow you to defend with minimal cost. If you’re defending though, what are you trying to do? Presumably, save the province. If you do, then the province interrupt doesn’t trigger, so you end up with a blank province and your character bows. If you really needed the character unbowed, maybe don’t assign the character. If you really want to save the province, play a province that helps defend itself.


63 Ikebana Artisan

Even at 2 fate the Ikebana Artisan’s stats are weak, 0 military and 2 political is closer to a 1 fate character. The Artisan is at least Courtier, which is a trait the Crane enjoy. The ability, in theory, is an honor gain one, in so far as it prevents you from losing honor in an unopposed conflict. So this might find a place in a future honor deck. This effect, however, comes at a steep price of 1 fate. While a dedicated honor deck would want to prevent this loos, 2 fate for the character and 1 for every unopposed honor loss seems a lot. Surely it would be cheaper to just defend?

Intriguingly, as the fate cost for the ability is part of the effect and not the cost, if you have no fate you can still use the ability. This does make the ability a little more palatable. One potential application for this character is with the Phoenix splash of Display of Power which requires not defending. In this way, a Crane deck could trigger an opponent’s Air or Fire ring to generate more honor while avoiding the unopposed honor loss. Currently, it does not look like this is a card that sees play. As honor decks are keen to avoid every honor loss, this might find a place if that style of deck does become viable.


64 Volcanic Troll

The Volcanic Troll is all stats. For 3 fate you essentially get a 5 military and 5 political character with no traits of relevance and 0 glory. That +2 / +2 bonus, however, only lasts as long as the Fire ring is unclaimed. A ring can be Unclaimed, Contested, or Claimed so as soon as someone declares a Fire conflict, that bonus is gone for the rest of the turn. If you are going first, you can choose any ring but Fire and keep the bonus. If your opponent is attacking first, they have to decide between selecting Fire to deny you the bonus or a ring they might value more. This is especially relevant as Mantra of Fire is one of the better Mantra cards although unfortunately, the Troll does not have the Monk trait to support it. On the other hand, the Master Alchemist encourages taking the Fire ring, something counter to the Volcanic Troll.


65 Tireless Sōdan Senzo

Stats wise, the Tireless Sodan Senzo is on par with most other lion characters in the 2 cost slot, but with the flipside being that it favors politics instead of military. Lion desperately need more political strength if they ever want to have a more balanced deck, so to that end, this card is starting to fill a massive hole that Lion currently has in its card pool. As a Shugenja, it means Lion have more consistency for running cards that require Shugenja like Cloud the Mind and maybe even some interesting swarm options Force of the River, but really, that’s still a little bit down the line for a clan that can only field 6 copies of cards with the Shugenja trait.

The major upside of this card is that it potentially serves as a free chump attacker or defender. You can commit this body to defend without a second thought and your opponent may have to commit precious resources to win that fight. Any trait that keeps a body in the action over multiple conflicts is worth a look, though I feel this card may not have a good home until Lion have a more defensive option in their repertoire of competitive decks (which has shown itself to be pretty thin over the current Kotei season).


66 Asako Azunami

Asako Azunami brings a new Elemental Master to the Phoenix clan, this time for the element of Water. The Phoenix already have some great characters at the expensive 5 cost slot with Isawa KaedeIsawa Tadaka, and Shiba Tsukune. They also have an extensive range of excellent 4 cost characters which can make for an expensive deck, especially now Charge! is restricted. With 4 military and 4 political skill she has similar stats to Agasha SumikoKuni Yori, and Shiba Tsukune but favors the Phoenix trend of higher glory with 3. As we have seen with Tsukune, this can be both a blessing and a curse. Once dishonored Azunami is only a 1/1 but honored she is a monster 7/7. Unlike Tsukune, Azunami has the Shugenja trait which is core to current Phoenix decks. Her ability is an interrupt before you resolve the Water ring, instead of using it normally you can bow any character (ignoring the fate restriction of the Water ring) and also straighten another character.

This falls into the trap the Phoenix often end up with. If you win a ring, if you’ve claimed a ring, if you manage to somehow win a conflict then things will be great! Of course when you’re behind and can’t see a way to win that ring of Water her ability doesn’t look so good. Luckily, you don’t necessarily need to win the Water ring to resolve it: you can use Display of Power or  Guardian Kami (Kami Unleashed if the Phoenix select a Seeker role) to trigger the ring and interrupt with Azunami. If you manage to actually trigger her ability, the shift of bowing your opponent’s best character while straightening your own is likely to shift any turn massively in your favor. The Water ring is already one that the Phoenix love. The Adept of the Waves giving out the Covert keyword makes it easier to claim. Asako Tsuki triggers as soon as someone wins the Water ring. They currently have the Keeper of Water role, so claiming the water ring will bring Keeper Initiates into play. And the Prodigy of the Waves who can unbow as long as someone has claimed the Water ring is central to a Phoenix deck’s success.

Asako Azunami faces stiff competition in the Phoenix line up and suffers from the same issue of many other Phoenix cards where you need to claim a ring first. Luckily, the Phoenix already have a range of excellent cards that both encourage and support claiming the Water ring, making sure Asako Azunami will be a solid addition to existing decks.


67 Disguised Protector

Although filled with potential, this Disguised Protector is unlikely to ever fulfill it. If it had had the Skills appropriate for a 4 cost character (i.e. at least one 4) or was 3 cost, then it could be a potentially interesting card that interacts with bid dials and Maze of Illusion to catch your opponent off-guard. Unfortunately, the majority of turns in most games you and your opponent will bid similarly unless they are actively attempting to win by honor or dishonor, something reinforced by this being a Dynasty character so your opponent will see its potential impact before the Draw Phase.

The best case scenario for this character is that you and your opponent both bid 1, then you play a Maze of Illusion and set your dial to 5. This results in you getting a slightly stronger Banzai! effect. The issue is that a Dishonor deck won’t ever want to bid 5, which removes the threat of the ability outside of having a Maze, and a Conquest deck would generally rather bid 5 and draw the cards rather than not draw them and hope for a Banzai! Your opponent may also bid 3, in which case they are up in cards and the maximum benefit you get from this character is significantly reduced. In many ways, it is character version of Deceptive Offer, with the majority of its power being under your opponent’s control rather than your own, and the baseline character and payoff aren’t worth the tradeoff.

There are two scenarios where the Disguised Protector may be worth playing. Firstly, as a Shinobi he will have a place in any deck reliant on that keyword until the card pool is large enough to be replaced with something more efficient. Secondly, it has potential in an environment that is heavy on Honor and Dishonor decks, where you know your opponents will likely bid 1, and thus the ability has a higher chance of being active early in the game.


68 Hidden Moon Dojo

The current tiers for the Unique holdings are Kanjo District and Karada District at the top, followed by The Imperial Palace, with everything else quite a distance behind. The Dojo is in the same bracket as The Imperial Palace – there is very little reason not to play it in the deck. It gives you a lot more options when it is in play even though those options may still not be significant, but it won’t be the main reason you win the game like the Crab and Phoenix holdings can be.

The potential value of this card is quite high, allowing you to pass earlier in the Dynasty Phase to net the Fate and deny it to your opponent. It means you can buy characters only when you need them for Conflicts and force through threats simply by having the potential to buy a high-cost character mid-fight. The flipside is that it will reveal on an end Province half the time, the character you need to buy this turn may be in a non-adjacent Province so you don’t get to pass first anyway and if your opponent attacks this you may have to make purchases just to keep it alive. On an average turn, it is more likely to benefit that hinder, especially with the card reveal that means it doesn’t quite cost a Province slot to keep in play, and as a Unique holding it’s likely to be an auto-include in Scorpion going forward.


69 Master of the Swift Waves

While rumors of a new Unicorn stronghold continue, it’s good to see the old stronghold hasn’t been completely abandoned. This Shugenja has a relatively competitive set of skill for a 3 fate character which typically hovers between the poor 2/2 with a very rare 3/3 or 4/2. For most competitive decks Cloud the Mind is a key element allowing a player deal with significant threads on the opposing side of the table. This has not been an option Unicorn players have had up until now, but the addition of this Shugenja might change that.

As a Cavalry character, the Master can be used with Cavalry specific cards like Cavalry ReservesShinjo Shono, Shiotome Encampment, and Golden Plains Outpost. Her ability, allows two characters to switch places between home and the conflict. As is typical of Shugenja characters, the Master does not need to be in the conflict and does not need to be one of the two characters used. This opens up a lot of flexibility Apart from the obvious uses, this does allow you to move a non-Cavalry character into the conflict replacing a Cavalry character and then use Golden Plains Outpost to move the Cavalry character back into the conflict again.


70 Yoritomo

Yoritomo is more than a card, he’s more than a character. He’s an entire clan. The Mantis Clan Champion is steeped in the history of L5R, being a pivotal character in what is largely considered the most epic storyline of Old5R. His return to the game, as a playable character is a moment of pure joy for many players out there, myself included. Mantis was my first clan in Old5R, they are the faction that captured my attention the most and I am super excited to see the main man back in the thick of it. Be prepared to see die-hards of the old game try their damndest to make a competitive deck that centers around this character. I know I will (whatever that’s worth!).

Coming out of my nostalgic rant for a moment, let’s take a brief look at what a character who’s equivalent to his 20 best men actually does: Well….. He’s not exactly overwhelming. I’m fairly whelmed by him, but I wouldn’t say overly so. He’s a bull, but a bull that gets very tired very quickly. He might look menacing if you Charge! him into a fight, but chances are high that if you stand firm against him, he’ll finish a hard fight looking a lot less threatening than when he started. Forget about buying him the good old-fashioned way. You would get more result out of spitting into a stiff breeze. The key to Yoritomo is cheating him into play and keeping him there. This is when being a Lion player becomes very interesting, as I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Yoritomo is best placed in Lion. Now I actually have to justify that:

I said that cheating him into play was the way to go, this is pretty obvious as it’s the absolute best way to have Yoritomo be a meaningful threat for the longest period of time. Lion have the most in-clan methods of cheating a character into play, through Kitsu Spiritcaller and Ikoma Ujiaki, and Stand your Ground. Couple this with Charge! and then double down on it with the Crab splash for Reprieve and possibly even Raise the Alarm and you’re (realistically speaking) gonna be on the right side of a 6+/6+ character that can do some serious damage in any conflict. That means more consistent triggering of Hisu Mori Toride AND having a significant threat for Political conflicts, which is something Lion badly needs.

The alternative is to make him the hard way, perhaps on turn 1 make him as your only character and try pass first. This will leave 2 to 3 fate on him and 1 fate in your pool leaving him a paltry 4/4 with no ability. Enough to get some work done, but you’ll have to be careful about not spending any fate. Next turn, if you’re feeling brave you could pass immediately netting 8 fate bringing Yoritomo to a whopping 12/12 but leaving the rest of your board empty. This certainly might be an option for some decks, especially ones who can straighten Yoritomo to allow him to participate in multiple conflicts. This forces your opponent to respond, and if they do somehow manage to deal with him, you still have a bucket of fate to recover.

With a mechanic that taps directly into the core Fate mechanic of the game, Yoritomo is a super interesting card. Although he might appear a simple beat-stick, behind him there is a tactical subtlety, much like the character in the fiction himself. While Yoritomo might not set hearts racing in terms of playability, I think there are options where he can have a significant impact.


71 Nezumi Infiltrator

As a 1 cost 1 military and 1 political conflict character, the Infiltrator is automatically worth considering. Being immune to Shadowlands and Mahō card effects actually a disadvantage is at the minute. Although it thematically makes sense, sadly it means the Nezumi can’t be a target for Spreading the Darkness. His entering play effect can be used to help smash a province or prevent a break, so sometimes he will count as an extra skill. He can also be played at home still triggering the effect which adds to his flexibility. This is a card that will see instant play.


72 Fight On

As it is restricted to the Water role, Fight On is currently limited to the Phoenix Clan. It is very effective if you are utilizing large characters, enabling you to defend one of the late conflicts in the turn, pulling in a character and critically straightening them for the low cost of 1 fate. The target character does have to be bowed, but you can still play it on a character in the conflict and just straighten them. Phoenix conquest decks using Spreading the Darkness and Fight On could become a mighty force in the next little while.


73 Menacing Iron Warrior

Where Guest of Honor prevents your opponent playing events, with Menacing Iron Warrior you can now prevent your opponent from using actions on their characters. Where Guest of Honor turned out to be one of the most powerful cards for the Crane, this new character has been designed to be less oppressive. First, it is an action you have to take, so if your opponent is defending they can use an ability on their character as their first action. Second, it only affects participating characters, this is especially important once you realize that Shugenja typically have actions they can use without needing to participate. Finally, an opponent’s character with more military skill than the Menacing Iron Warrior is exempt from the ability, so with a quick Banzai! a character would be ready to act again. Despite these limitations, this is a card that could be very frustrating for an opponent relying on actions on their characters.

Unfortunately for this character, it is rare for a deck to be reliant on character actions. Typically there are only a few characters in every deck that would be affected, so unlike with Guest of Honor, you cannot rely on this being relevant for every conflict. Luckily, the Iron Warrior is a conflict card. So you can hold onto her until when you need her. Due to her ability requiring an action, if you do drop her in the middle of a combat your opponent will have an opportunity to act. Overall, I don’t expect the Iron Warrior will see a lot of play. If you compare her to Hiruma Ambusher you will see the Ambusher in certain circumstances will have a similar effect. The Ambusher, however, despite seeing some limited play is not a very popular option in decks partially because of the value of 1 cost conflict characters but more importantly as there are limited targets who have conflict actions worth stopping.


74 Soul Beyond Reproach

Not all of the ‘Way of’ cards see play, but Way of the Crane is secure in its position as a 3 of in every Crane deck. Soul Beyond Reproach has a similar effect, but more, with a 1 fate cost. Rather than just honoring the character, it honors them twice bringing them from dishonored status to honored if needed.

Despite appearances, Crane only have two 3 glory characters Doji Hotaru and Kakita Yoshi. So, the majority of the time the honoring effect is going to be on a 2 glory character for a +2/+2 bonus. That effect, for most characters, is essentially a Fine Katana and Ornate Fan combined. Often you’d prefer to just have one of them for free, but paying 1 for both isn’t terrible. The honoring effect also nets you extra honor when the character leaves play and importantly powers Voice of Honor. Of course, if you have a dishonored character that swing is going to be an effective +4/+4 making this an incredibly cost-effective action.

Soul Beyond Reproach does look like a strong addition to the Crane conflict deck. It is Air role only, but currently, Crane have an Air role and can play it. It does, however, mean their love affair with this card might be short-lived.


75 Hawk Tattoo

Hawk Tattoo is one of the big cards for the Dragon in this cycle. At first look, this card seems relatively innocuous, a poor version of Favored Mount that can only be used once. Once you realize it can be played on an opponent’s character you can see the real power of this card. At a cost of 1 fate, you can pull any opponent into the conflict, a ‘harpoon’ effect. This can be used to move a powerful military character info a political conflict, to force the character that stayed behind to defend into the attacking army, to move a character with a powerful ability into a conflict where they cannot use it. One drawback here is if you play it on an opponent’s card they will benefit from the +1 Military skill bonus which will stick around until the character or the attachment leaves play. Even that can be a bonus, however, when your opponent runs into Feast or FamineHawk Tattoo will make sure the province breaks by pulling in whatever skill is needed (even negating Cautious Scout).

In addition, you can still use it to move in your own characters, and if that character has the Monk trait, get a minor tempo boost by being able to take the next action. The same is also true if you harpoon an enemy Monk. The movement is especially relevant with the Ascetic Visionary who can be moved into a conflict bowed and then use his ability to straighten. With the incredibly strong harpoon effect and the extra utility as a +1 military attachment that can move your own character in, this is a fantastic addition to all Dragon decks. It will be a card that your opponents will need to anticipate and will become a key element of all Dragon decks going forward.


76 Heroic Resolve

I really like this card. +1/+1 for 1 is average at best but what this card represents is an in-clan support piece for Hisu Mori Toride. The theme of the new Lion box is basically “do more, with less” (as you have to sacrifice resources to use it) and to successfully capitalize on that, Lion needs to be ultra-efficient, with cards in hand, Fate and bodies on the board.

One possible way is running Unicorn splash for the combination of movement tricks from Favored Mount, spying on provinces with Iuchi Wayfinder and unbow with Gaijin Customs. The problem there is that the pieces sometimes fail to sync up in the right way, and what that deck needed was really just the unbow to provide the additional resources in a single turn to get the mileage out of the stronghold. With Heroic Resolve, you have a more efficient option for unbow, with the added consistency of being able to splash Crab instead for the incredibly powerful Spreading the Darkness and the extra covert from Hiruma Skirmisher. In fact, Crab splash offers all kinds of interesting options. I’d even go so far as to say Raise the Alarm is an exciting option for Lion, as that potential free body could be used to defend a province, win a ring to fuel Heroic Resolve and trigger the Stronghold on the defense!

All in all, I feel the restriction might be easier to get around than you might think at first glance and the potential upside of this card is not to be underestimated.


77 My Ancestor’s Strength

This card is one that has me quite puzzled to be honest. Lion are not exactly overflowing with Shugenja, and even less so when it comes to Shugenja you actually want to send to a fight. Kitsu Spiritcaller being the magical champion for Lion, who is probably just as well off never going anywhere near a fight (and couldn’t use its far more effective ability in combo with this anyhow), and the brand new Tireless Sodan Senzo are the sum total of lion Shugenja this game has to offer currently…. Not exactly enough to support this card in the first place, but let’s suppose for a moment that you did have enough Shugenja power to warrant the inclusion of this spell:

1 cost is steep for what will probably amount to what Phoenix get for free with Supernatural Storm. It also requires a big body in the bin to get the full effect, so in the early game it’s not likely to do much and in the late game it could amount to a fairly significant increase in military strength, and a far more humble impact in political strength due to the stereotypical Lion stat line across the board. The only major upside for this card, is that it’s not locked into the “Only while attacking” restriction that so many Lion cards are.

From a Lion player’s perspective, this is a card that will probably go into the binder and never come out. It is another spell though, and Kyuden Isawa is not going anywhere, so never count a spell out, especially in a clan with far more balanced stats and some ridiculously large bodies this can take advantage of.


78 Ofushikai

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen the Phoenix clan sword Ofushikai with the first version of it a full art promo in the excellent The Sword and the Spirits novella by Robert Denton III (which we highly recommend). At two cost, Ofushikai sits at the dangerous attachment cost where you are really worried about it being destroyed with a Let Go or a Miya Mystic. As this can only be attached to a Phoenix clan personality you are less concerned about Calling in Favors stealing it, although it will still destroy it. Unfortunately, the Ancestral keyword does not trigger for any of those cards. The skill bonuses provided are a well balanced +2 military and +3 political, decent skills but not enough by themselves to make this worth playing.

If you attach Ofushikai to a character with the Champion trait you are also able to use the swords ability which moves a participating character home and prevents it from assigning as an attacked for the rest of the phase. Interestingly, this doesn’t specify opposing, so you can use it to move your own character home allowing it to later defend or possibly just contest the Imperial Favor. Currently, the only Phoenix clan character with the Champion trait is Shiba Tsukune who often gets cut from decks to make room for Elemental Masters. The Phoenix can also play Yoritomo a neutral character who is the clan Champion of the Mantis Clan. As Yoritomo is not a Phoenix character he cannot equip Ofushikai, but this is something that can be rectified with a Seal of the Phoenix (although if that Seal gets destroyed Ofushikai goes too!).

Right now, Ofushikai looks like a fantastic card that the Phoenix cannot afford to play. Relying on one character or a cheap card combo to even have a target is a bit of stretch especially when neither character makes it into the deck on merit alone. That said, the effect is quite strong and getting the pieces in play could win a game. If the Phoenix get a few more Champion’s it could be competitive, but right now it is just a cool addition to a fun deck, perhaps one with a Mantis Clan theme.


79 Deceptive Offer

This card is terrible. Either effect alone is decent, but giving up control of which one happens means that the card is too unreliable to play over any other available options. Levy at least involves a resource that can be at 0 and has a high value when stolen, and even that is a borderline card at best.


80 Force of the River

For 1 cost, Force of the River can get you up to 4 Cavalry characters with 1 military. This is something you can use once a turn and it will power up those cards that care about Cavalry and outnumbering your opponent. For this, you need a Shugenja character you can place this spell on, and you need to clear as many of your provinces as possible. Currently, Unicorn have only 3 Shugenja characters, Meishōdō Wielder, the conflict character Iuchi Wayfinder, and from this pack Master of Swift Waves. From the Neutral cards, they could also include Kudaka and Miya Mystic. Including all of those cards, the Unicorn could probably get enough Shugenja to reliably play this.

If you have a holding, you’re making 1 less spirit. If you didn’t make a character that was in a province, you’re down another spirit. As both scenarios are pretty typical, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see this only generate 2 characters. As passing early is a bit of a Unicorn theme, this card forces you into some difficult decisions. If you do manage to trigger all 4 however, you leave those provinces with new face-down cards. This leaves you ready to use another copy of Force of the River generating another 4 spirits! Let’s assume you do this, that is 8 cards you’ve just discarded, one-fifth of your deck! The good news here is a Unicorn deck is going to have a lot more Cavalry options in their discard for Cavalry Reserves but it also pushes the deck a little closer to a reshuffle and 5 honor loss.

On the face of it, getting a typical 2 to 3 military skill isn’t great. This will, however, work with Shinjo Shono to both trigger the ability and benefit from the bonus. It will also enable cards like Press of Battle and Minami Kaze Regulars. This is a card that might have a place. If the Shugenja build for Unicorn works out and the effect reliably produces 3 to 4 spirits this will be a good card. For other clans, the influence cost is significant and without the additional ‘swarm’ effects Unicorn have may not be reliable. It definitely will be interesting to see how this one plays out in testing!



This pack has at least 1 card of interest for every clan. Crab come out strong in this back with 3 great cards in the form of Flooded Waste, Nezumi Infiltrator, and Fight On. Unfortunately, Fight On is role locked to Water meaning the Crab cannot currently play it. For the Crane the stand out is Soul Beyond Reproach which while role locked is the role they currently have. Honoring their characters is something the Crane love doing and this is more of it. Dragon easily get one of the strongest cards out of the cycle with Hawk Tattoo. For a clan that has largely relied on board presence and reactive abilities, this is a flexible and proactive card. The Lion receive support for their new stronghold with Heroic Resolve. Getting two rings isn’t easy, but if they can, this is a repeatable straighten for just 1 fate that also comes with skill bonuses! The Phoenix get another Elemental Council character in  Asako Azunami who fits neatly into their already Water focused decks. The Scorpion add a copy of the Hidden Moon Dojo straight into their decks. It isn’t as good as the many initially claimed, but it definitely finds a slot in an already competitive deck. The Unicorn get the Master of the Swift Waves who is a solid Shugenja character which could open up key cards for the clan, including the new Force of the River spell. Finally, this pack brings us Yoritomo a character any clan can play who, although only really a beat stick, with some clever play can become a truly impressive beat stick.

Have a listen to the team going through the pack

This article was a team effort. All blame will be shared equally.




5 Replies to “Elemental Cycle – Pack 4 – Ebb and Flow”

  1. Thanks a lot for the review!
    This pack has many interesting cards… Do you think it Will change the splash of some clanes?

    1. Definitely. Hawk Tattoo can be played by anyone and improves the already awesome Dragon splash with Let Go. I think Fight On is really good on the Crab side, but with the Role lock, it’s hard to know who will be able to play it. Similarly, Soul Beyond Reproach is super interesting but locked.

  2. I’m not sure Ikebana Artisan will see play in honour decks, but I would say that Phoenix is the obvious splash for a Crane honour deck, given that it allows you to play Winds of Change and Display of Power.

    1. At best she would have a place in a hypothetical future honor deck that somehow finds her useful. I really don’t like her, but you gotta find the best in everything.

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